What We Love About James Bond: The Vice, The Swagger, The Patriotism, And More

Bond girls come and go, M becomes a woman, the Cold War ends and the villains dry up, and hell, even Bond has a different face from time to time. But when you buy a ticket for a new Bond movie, any Bond movie, you know you're stepping into the passenger seat with one of the most confident men on the planet. A Bond adventure can go to some truly insane places-- surfing on melting glaciers, women killed by being painted gold-- but the series pulls off all these crazy leaps because they share Bond's confidence. No matter what happens, they'll tell you it's the coolest place you can possibly be.

Not every blockbuster does that, of course-- some heroes have existential crises and need your help to build them back up, some movies get so busy and wrapped up in their own plots that they lose the audience entirely. But even when they're not that good, every Bond movie has the vibe of a guy who's leading you into his super-swank apartment, full of gadgets and luxuries you've never seen before-- he knows you'll be impressed. You don't even have to wind up going to bed with him to get to enjoy all that spectacle.